In terms of passengers, Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport is the 15th busiest airport in the United States and the 44th busiest airport in the world in 2014.[5] A joint civil-military airport, MSP is also home to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport Joint Air Reserve Station, supporting both Air Force Reserve Command and Air National Guard flight operations. Airlines out of Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport serve 135 nonstop markets from MSP, including 115 domestic and 20 international markets. Compared to other large metropolitan areas in the United States, only Atlanta and Denver serve more non-stop markets per capita.[6]

It is the third-largest hub airport for Delta Air Lines and Delta Connection partners Compass Airlines and Endeavor Air (with Compass and Endeavor having their headquarters nearby). It also serves as the home airport for Sun Country Airlines. Champion Air was based at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport until the airline ceased operations in May 2008. Northwest Airlines was based near the airport until its 2010 merger with Delta Air Lines and Delta Connection partner Mesaba Airlines was also headquartered nearby until December 2011 as it completed its merger with Pinnacle Airlines. Delta Air Lines accounts for more than 80% of the airport's passenger traffic. The airport is operated by the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which also handles operation of six smaller airports in the region.

Pinnacle Airlines relocated its headquarters from Memphis International Airport to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in May 2013 and has renamed itself Endeavor Air.[8][9]

The airport's police department is recognized as having one of the best trained K-9 units in the United States. At a national competition in 2013, two MSP Airport Police dogs, "Ollie" and "Lana", took first and second place in explosives detection.[10]

The airport came into being when several local groups came together to take control of the former bankrupt Twin City Speedway race track, giving the airport its original name, Speedway Field. Soon after, in 1921, the airport was renamed "Wold–Chamberlain Field" for the World War I pilots Ernest Groves Wold and Cyrus Foss Chamberlain. Howard Hughes briefly stopped at Wold–Chamberlain Field on his round the world flight in 1938. In 1944 the site was renamed to "Minneapolis–St. Paul Metropolitan Airport/Wold-Chamberlain Field", with "International" replacing "Metropolitan" four years later. Today it is rare to see the Wold–Chamberlain portion of the name used anywhere.

Ground was broken for the current Charles Lindbergh terminal building on October 26, 1958.[11] The US$8.5 million, 600,000 square foot (56,000 m2) terminal with 24 gates on two concourses was designed by Lyle George Landstrom [12] who worked for Cerny Associates and completed on January 13, 1962 and operations began on January 21, 1962.[11][13] Piers A and D (formerly the Green and Gold Concourses, now Concourse C and Concourse G respectively) were built as an expansion of the terminal designed by Cerny Associates in 1970.[13] This project also involved rebuilding the existing concourses into bi-level structures equipped with holding rooms and jet bridges.[13] It handles all international flights and airlines such as Delta, United and others. The Gold Concourse was expanded in 1986 and included the airport's first moving walkway.[11]

The 1970 disaster filmAirport was partially filmed at MSP, filling in for a fictional Lincoln airport. It was followed by several sequels and was a prototype for many disaster films that followed. The airport used colors as the method for naming different concourses for many years, a convention that was duplicated in the movie. Starting in 2000, MSP switched to lettered concourses, which has become standard practice at airports around the world. The color names still survive as the names for the Lindbergh Terminal parking ramp wings. When Humphrey Terminal parking ramp was built, color theme was adopted for its wings.

Due in part to the impact of aircraft noise on south Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs, Northwest Airlines and others had proposed[when?] moving out of MSP and building a new airport on the fringes of the Twin Cities metro area to handle more large jets and more international traffic. Minneapolis and other neighboring cities were concerned that such a move would have a negative economic impact, so an arrangement was made where the Metropolitan Airports Commission would outfit many homes in the vicinity of the airport with sound insulation and air conditioning so that indoor noise could be reduced. A citizen group named ROAR (Residents Opposed to Airport Racket) was created in 1998 and helped push the MAC to make these concessions. Later, in 2004, the MAC voted to reduce funding for the soundproofing projects, stating in part that the economic climate had turned in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak, who had been a founding member of ROAR, promised that the city would challenge the funding changes.

The Hubert H. Humphrey Terminal was built in 2001. It is used mostly for charter and low cost airlines, including Sun Country and Southwest Airlines.

Concourses A and B opened on June 1, 2002 as part of a $250 million terminal expansion designed by Minneapolis-based Architectural Alliance.[14] The final component of the project included a $17.5 million extension of Concourse C consisting of six additional gates, which opened on October 31, 2002.[15]

Icelandair started service to Minneapolis-St. Paul from Reykjavik in 1998. Northwest operated flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Hong Kong and Osaka in 1998 using 747-400 aircraft, but were dropped in the same year. Northwest also operated Minneapolis-St. Paul to Oslo and Frankfurt service using DC-10 aircraft, but they too were dropped. From the early 1990s and to 2000s (decade), KLM operated 747 and MD-11 service from Amsterdam to Minneapolis-St. Paul. In part because of the Delta/KLM joint venture, KLM has not served Minneapolis-St. Paul with its own aircraft since 2004. Beginning in the summer of 2013 Air France commenced non-stop seasonal flights from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to Minneapolis-St. Paul using Airbus A340-300 aircraft. The service resumed in the summer of 2014 using Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Condor Airlines also began non-stop seasonal service to Minneapolis-St. Paul from Frankfurt in the summer of 2014. At one time Swiss International Air Lines offered non-stop flights to Zurich.

By May 2012 Great Lakes Airlines was adding services to small communities that had been ended by the legacy carriers earlier in the airport's history.[16] Hub status was removed February 1, 2014 due to the lack of qualified pilots.

Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport has two terminals, both of which were named for famous Minnesotans: the Lindbergh Terminal 1 (named after the aviator Charles Lindbergh) and the smaller Humphrey Terminal 2 (named for former US Vice PresidentHubert Humphrey). Lindbergh Terminal 1 officially has seven concourses, lettered A–G, with the Humphrey Terminal 2 labeled as Concourse H. The old Humphrey Terminal 2, built in 1986, was rebuilt in 2001 to expand capacity and give passengers a more seamless experience.[11]

The tram

Like many other airports, MSP interconnects with several other forms of transportation. Several large parking ramps are available for cars. Most other connections are made at the Hub Building and adjacent Transit Center, which has city and shuttle bus, taxi, light-rail and rental car service. Two trams (people movers) are at the airport. One carries passengers from the main section of Lindbergh Terminal 1 to the Hub Building and another runs along Concourse C in that terminal.

The airport is near Fort Snelling, the site of one of the earliest United States government settlements in the area. Both the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers flow nearby. Minnesota State Highway 5 provides the closest entrance to the Lindbergh Terminal 1, just a short distance from Interstate 494. The Humphrey Terminal 2 is accessed via the 34th Avenue exit from I-494, which runs past Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Delta Air Lines has hangars arranged along I-494 and 34th Avenue, so it's possible to see airliners undergoing maintenance while driving past.

The METRO light rail Blue Line[17] has stops at both the Hub Building Terminal 1 (Lindbergh Station) and Terminal 2 Humphrey Terminal (Humphrey Station). It connects the airport with downtown Minneapolis as well as with the Mall of America in nearby Bloomington and operates as a shuttle service between the two airport terminals. Travelers can use the rail line to go between the two sites at all times; it is the only part of the line that operates continuously through the night (the rest shuts down for about four hours early in the morning).[18] Passengers going between the two terminals may ride free of charge, but those riding beyond the airport grounds must pay a standard fare.[18] Two parallel tunnels for the line run roughly 70 feet (20 meters) below the airport and at 1.7 miles (2.7 km) in length are the longest tunnels on the route. The Lindbergh Terminal 1 station is the only one underground on the line, as the rails return to the surface near Humphrey Terminal 2. Due to current concerns about terrorism, a great deal of effort went into ensuring that the tunnels are highly blast-resistant. The underground portion was the costliest section of the entire rail project.[19]

In 2004, Northwest Airlines, which is now Delta Air Lines, proposed expanding the Lindbergh Terminal 1 to accommodate growing flight operations in a plan known as the MSP 2020 Vision. The proposed expansion included moving all airlines other than Northwest and its SkyTeam alliance partners to the Humphrey Terminal 2. This caused increased concern about Northwest Airlines' control of the Minneapolis–St. Paul commercial air service market with some claiming that Northwest was using its market position to inflate airfares. While AirTran Airways voiced opposition to the plan, American Airlines and United Airlines remained neutral on the move since both had exclusive terminals at their own main hubs. Despite the merger between Northwest and Delta Air Lines, Delta still plans to carry out the expansions. In May 2005, the MAC approved the plan with the following conditions:

The Humphrey Terminal 2 will be expanded to 22 gates, over double its current size

Another parking ramp will be constructed at the Humphrey Terminal 2

Delta and other SkyTeam airlines will have exclusive rights to the entire Lindbergh Terminal 1

Non-SkyTeam airlines will use the Humphrey Terminal 2

Concourses C and E will be converted into regional jet terminals

A new Concourse H will be built on the site of the former NWA Building B

In September 2012, MAC released a draft of the MSP 2020 Vision, expanding both the terminals to meet growing flights operations. The estimated $1.5 billion plan will include:

Expanding and constructing a new international facility at concourse G.

Cost to airlines per enplaned passenger: $6.68. MSP's 2012 estimated cost to airlines per enplaned passenger ranks among the lower third of large hub airports. The 2013 estimated national average is $11.99 based on rating agency information and various airport Bond Official Statements.

The 934 AW serves as the "host" wing for the installation, which also includes lodging/billeting, officers club, Base Exchange (BX) and other morale, welfare and recreation (MWR) facilities for active, reserve/national guard and retired military personnel and their families.

Delta Air Lines Building C is located on the property of Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport and in Fort Snelling.[32][33][34][35] Delta uses it for northern and regional operations.[36] The building is located along 34th Avenue, which is the main access point to the airport terminals from Interstate 494, and across from the Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Building C is in a public access area of the airport, so visitors are not required to undergo security checks to access it.[37]

In 2009, as Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines merged, Delta removed all employees from Building A, the previous headquarters of Northwest in Eagan and all employees who remained in Minneapolis were moved to Building C, which was renovated and Building J.[38] Facilities within the building include the Compass Airlines corporate headquarters, which moved there on December 16, 2009,[39] and Delta SkyBonus offices.[40]Endeavor Air is also headquartered in Building C.[41] In 2013 Delta announced that the former Pinnacle Airlines, which became Endeavor, would move its headquarters from Memphis to MSP Airport and that it would occupy five stories.[42]

Runway 17/35 opened in October 2005. Prior to that time, a number of buildings (including several hangars and the City of Richfield's Rich Acres Golf Course) were demolished to make way for the runway protection zone of the new runway. Aircraft approaching Runway 35 fly slightly east of the Mall of America, overfly Interstate 494 and land seconds later. Due to noise concerns from south Minneapolis, between August 13, 2007 and October 18, 2007, Runway 17/35 was used regularly during construction on Runway 12R/30L.